There is increasing evidence from African countries, including Burkina Faso, that at least in some settings/seasons the proportion of fevers attributable to malaria is low or very low: this means that the current strategy of treating all fever cases as malaria is only to the advantage of very few. Rapid, antigenic tests might be of help, particularly in peripheral health centres such as the "Centres de Santé et Promotion Sociale" (CSPS) that lack any laboratory facilities. Nevertheless two major problems could arise: